


The Boy In The Tower

by chocopieyj



Category: GOT7
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Rapunzel Inspired, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23573056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocopieyj/pseuds/chocopieyj
Summary: Jaebeom was just looking for some ancient, really expensive piece of jewelry that would make him rich but what he found instead, was something way much more precious than that.
Relationships: Choi Youngjae/Im Jaebum | JB
Comments: 33
Kudos: 56





	1. Birthday Wishes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ninalyene](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninalyene/gifts).



> The teasers are KILLING ME!!! Like glitter, and veils, and masks, and why Youngjae is with the hyungs oh god. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

The mansion was huge, but not big enough.

He was going to be 18 years old in just a matter of hours and in those 18 years, he had never seen anything beyond his father's mansion and the wide gardens that surrounded it. The problem was a barrier between him and the real world, a world that he was dying to know.

His barrier was 4 gigantic walls bordering the gardens of a solid stone, impenetrable, or at least it was for Youngjae - it was impossible to climb or border it and there wasn’t a single gap or opening to escape, excepting for the door that, of course, it was always closed for him. Always locked and the only copy of the key it was in his father's pocket all the time.

Since he had memory, he had never been allowed to leave the house and it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that he was allowed to visit all the surrounding gardens and Youngjae remembered he had been ecstatic - he had asked his father for years to let him out of the mansion and on his 16th birthday, as a gift, he finally succeeded. It was good at first, leaving the house to enjoy nature at his fingertips and the garden of the mansion that was like having a personal forest just for him, but that wasn’t what Youngjae wanted.

What he really wanted was to leave outside those walls to the real world, to the city and he thought that on his 18th birthday it would be allowed or that he expected.

His father had already told him no, obviously, he wasn’t allowed to go out and he knew it fully well. He could not leave _'until the day I die'_ \- verbatim words.

And it wasn’t like he didn’t understand his father's motives, he was just worried about his well-being; ' _The world is too dangerous for people as precious as you, look how your mother ended. I'm not going to let anything happen to you',_ he used to tell him.

Since he was a little boy, his father had put ideas in his head - that the world was dangerous, cruel, full of evil people ready to hurt him, and that's how he grew up. With fear of a someone wanting to hurt him.

But his father was his personal superhero at the time, he kept him safe and protected, nothing was going to happen inside his house, and Youngjae liked that sense of security he had there, inside four walls there was nothing to fear and besides, there was nothing he could ask for that was ever denied.

He took private lessons with the best teachers in the country, when he became interested in music, he had a private music tutor and as a 11th birthday gift, he received a magnificent grand piano.

He had a private movie theater, a library, a pool, a gaming room - there was nothing Youngjae could want that his father wouldn’t give him except the key of the main gate.

And that was fine, at first.

But then he began to grow curious, he wanted to go out and see for himself the life he saw only in movies, books or in the anecdotes of the employees. He wanted to know the sea and wanted to know what it would be like to climb a mountain, a real one, not that wall that his father had put for him when he told him that he wanted to climb.

He wanted to meet people, beyond his teachers, chefs, gardeners and housemaids.

He wanted to see the night lights of the city and the river bridge at the annual festival of lights.

He wanted to get out of there and be free but his father needed to keep him safe.

* * *

"Your father just came back from his trip." His nanny informed him with a smile, encouraging him to finally leave his room, "He's in his study."

Youngjae sighed, he wanted to go see his father after those months he went away but, at the same time, he didn’t feel like seeing him. The last time they talked on the phone, his father excitedly told him about the birthday gift he would give him - a new kit for his virtual reality video games.

And for Youngjae that only meant one thing: this year he wouldn’t let him out either.

"Go greet him," Nanny said with a sympathetic smile, as if she knew what he was thinking, "He’s in a good mood, maybe you can convince him this time."

Youngjae stood up, shaking his head, "I doubt it."

She hugged him, trying to cheer him up, but knowing deep down that the boy was right.

* * *

"Father!" Youngjae smiled hugely at the sight of his father putting some of his things into the bookshelves of the study, perhaps he missed him more than he could admit to himself.

"Youngjae-ah," his father mirrored his smile, although it wasn’t as dazzling as that of his son, who looked much more like the one of his deceased wife, "I missed you a lot."

"Me too," Youngjae hugged him and let his father stroke his hair gently before getting away, "How was your trip?"

"Tiring," the man admitted sighing, "I'll have to leave tomorrow afternoon."

"Again?!"

"It will only be a month this time!" His father promised, taking a seat in the chair behind his desk, "I'll stay so we can spend your birthday together tomorrow."

Youngjae shrugged, it wasn’t unusual for his father to go on a business trip for so long, but sometimes he didn’t like being left alone.

"About my birthday..."

"Don’t worry Jae, I have your gift and they're installing it downstairs," his father winked at him, he looked proud of the gift he got.

"Could I ask you… for something else?" The dubious boy asked, measuring his words.

"I thought you wanted that new virtual reality system?" The man raised his eyebrow and looked at him sternly, as if he knew what would come next.

"Yes!" Youngjae shouted quickly, "Yes, that's great but... I'd like something more too..."

"And what do you want? You know that if I can give it to you, you will have it."

"There's a... a festival next week and I..."

"Youngjae, no. We already talked about that."

"It's only one day!" Youngjae exclaimed, he was already waiting for that answer but still it felt disappointing, "I promise you it will only be a day... no! Just one night and I promise never to mention it again."

His father sighed heavily, "Youngjae, I've told you a million times. It's not safe outside. If you want to see the festival of lights, watch the live broadcast, okay. You're just fine here."

"But…"

The man hit the desk with a fist, Youngjae shrunk slightly, "I do not want to hear about it again. You won't go and that's ny final word. Goodnight."

Youngjae wanted to say something else, to refute that reasoning, but he didn’t find it within him to do it, it was pointless and he was already giving up, "Goodnight."

* * *

The day of his eighteenth birthday, Youngjae had always dreamed it differently: first thing in the morning, his boyfriend - Youngjae, despite not knowing a lot people besides the workers of his house and his online friends with whom he played LOL, had known from some time now that he was gay, firstly because he found Jason Momoa way much sexier than Megan Fox and well, in porn, seeing dicks make him hotter than tits so yeah, his boyfriend would wake him up with the birthday song and a chocolate cake decorated with a candle, they would celebrate it just the two of them alone first.

Later on, in the evening he would eat with his closest friends in a fast food place because nobody had enough money to eat something fancy and at night, in a frat house of his college, there would be a huge party in his honor, with a lot of people and alcohol. He reserved for his own imagination what happened next with his fictitious boyfriend after that party.

What he got instead was his father and the employees singing in the dining room for him, a very expensive gift that wasn’t what he really wanted, a feeling of loneliness not very pleasant and the only thing he got that resembled his imagination was his chocolate cake - much more bigger, expensive and elaborate, of course.

He tried to put on a good face anyways, and thanked his father for the gift he gave him, pretending he had forgotten the conversation of the previous night and his father did the same.

After a while he closed up into his room and put a brand new scratch on his wall, in a small corner of the closet, there he counted the years he had been locked in the mansion with the hope that someday he would leave, although honestly, that hope was already dying.

"Your father is leaving, aren’t you going to say goodbye?", His nanny - Kimmy as Youngjae called her since he was a toddler, told him. 

Youngjae, lying on his bed, shook his head with his face buried in the pillow.

"One day you’ll go out, Jae." Kimmy said in a soft and reassuring voice, patting him on the back, "He just wants to keep you safe."

"I know..." Youngjae whispered, raising his face just enough to look at her, "I know, but is it really that the world is so bad? Is anyone really going to try and kill me once outside?"

She grimaced, it hurt her to see the boy in that mood but she can't do anything to make him feel better. She had already tried to talk to his father, tell him to let him out for a while with her and the other workers, but there was nothing that could change his mind either.

"Your father loves you and only cares about you but after your mother’s..."

"I know," growled Youngjae, putting his face back into the pillow and Kimmy knew him well enough to know that it was his way of saying he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so she left him alone, if that was what he needed.

When the nanny left the room, Youngjae ran to the balcony to see his father leave the house in the car. He didn’t hate him but sometimes it annoyed him a lot that he could go out as if nothing, while he stayed at home, locked up, because the world was too disgusting for someone like Youngjae.

But Youngjae didn’t care, he wanted to see it for himself, that bad world his father talked about - sometimes he felt like an animal in captivity.

He closed his eyes and remembered that still, he hadn’t asked for any birthday wishes. There were no stars that night but the moon looked gigantic in the sky, so he looked at the moon and wished the same thing he had wanted this few last years - that just one day of his life, a single day, he could leave there to see the real world.

* * *

It was about 4 in the morning when he heard a loud noise right outside his room.

It frightened him at first but he convinced himself it couldn’t be anything too serious, maybe a vase just felt from a shelf but then he heard something much closer and then the door of his own room opening and closing.

He saw a shadow walk around the room growling some insult at hitting something and Youngjae froze in place, watching as the shadow walked by, until finding the light switch.

When the room was lit, Youngjae saw a young man, dressed in jeans and black sweatshirt and a cap pulled up to just above the eyes that prevented him from seeing his face clearly.

The man looked from one side of the room to the other without noticing Youngjae, who was still in his bed, holding his breath.

"Jinyoung, this room doesn’t seem to be the right one," said the man to someone who wasn't in the room and waited a few seconds, looked around again and said, "This is a bedroom, not an office."

The man went to his closet, opened the doors and entered there. It was a walk-in closet of considerable size, with a full-length mirror mounted on one of the walls so Youngjae could see him looking around and it gave him some time to run away while the man was checking inside but he was static, he couldn't move.

"I don’t care if Mark says it's the right room, there's no fucking safe here and we can’t waste time while you two argue like an old marriage," the man growled at nothing, coming out of the closet and standing in the middle of the room, turning his back to the bed, "I have to get out of here before the help starts to wake up," this caught Youngjae's attention, his fear completely turned into curiosity.

"I'm on the third floor, Tuan!" The man complained in a content yell and Youngjae frowned, sitting up slightly, "You are the ones that are outside monitoring everything, how am I going to know?!" A long pause and the man began to massage his temple, "Then you better take me to the right place, if I'm going down, you're coming with me."

Youngjae sat on the mattress more and more interested in the man, who paused again and spoke right after, "You know, basement doesn’t look like anything on the third floor," another pause, "Yeah, fuck you too."

The man went to the door and Youngjae finally snapped, in a rush of excitement, "Who are you?!"

The man stopped, then turned slowly, as if Youngjae's words had frozen him and he could barely move. He lifted his cap just a little and the boy could finally see his face, his eyes were wide open and he looked like going into shock.

"Who are you?" He asked, staring at him.

"I asked first," Youngjae hurried up to get closer to him, "How did you get in?"

"Ahm... I... how did _you_ get in?"

Youngjae giggled, but he didn’t understand why the man repeated everything he said, "I live here."

"You live here..." the man seemed in a trance and slowly put a hand to his ear, "He lives here, Jinyoung..." he said softly watching Youngjae as if he was a ghost, "I'll call you later," a pause, "I'll call you."

The man pressed some kind of button in his ear and lowered his hand, scrutinizing the boy in front of him, now he was visibly nervous, "Who are you?" he asked again.

"Youngjae."

"Ah... and you live here you say?"

"Who are you?"

"Me?! I… I’m Jae... Jay bi."

Youngjae frowned, "Yeah, right. Well, I don’t think you should be here, _Jay - bi._ "

"Maybe."

"Maybe I should call the police."

"No!" The guy stopped him before he got close to his phone, although he didn’t know that Youngjae wasn’t planning on call anyone just yet, "Just pretend you didn’t see me, okay? I was never here."

Youngjae smiled sideways, "Well, you're in private property and did you say something about a safe?"

"Shh! Please, I'll just get out of here and you won’t see me again!"

"And what do I win if I let you go?"

"Whatever! I'll do anything if you don’t call the police." 

Youngjae smiled broadly and the other guy thought it was really weird that he looked so happy, "Where are you from?"

"What?"

"Yeah!" Youngjae exclaimed, his eyes shining with excitement, "Were you born in Seoul or something? You live there?"

The guy frowned, "I was actually born in Goyang, but I do live in Seoul..."

"Great!" Youngjae seemed happier every second and the other just couldn’t figure it out, "And you came into my house!"

"Kind of... hey, I thought you would forget it."

"No!" Youngjae took him by the arm, "What's your name?"

"Jay..."

"That Jay bi thing is pure bullshit, I want to know your real name, you know my name!" Youngjae freed his hold and crossed his arms, ultimately, he couldn’t help but be a little bratty, he had always got what he wanted and this time it wouldn’t be different, "Unless you want me to call someone then..."

"Jaebeom!" The boy replied quickly, "My name is Jaebeom."

Youngjae smiled, "Well Jaebeom... I won't say anything and I'll let you go."

Jaebeom sighed in relief, "Thank you boy, you're..."

"On one condition!"

"What?"

Youngjae's smile turned huge, so much that his cheeks began to hurt. Apparently the birthday wishes are fulfilled from time to time.

"I want to go with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is something I'm not that used to write, you know? This kind of cute, funny story. So don't expect that much, I'm trying hahahaha
> 
> Tell me what you think! 
> 
> Also posted on AFF, but I think I'm gonna move here for now, and I post this in hopes that I keep writing this until the end! 
> 
> Nina, if you read this, I want to gift this to you, cause you're the one always thinking in this story, asking me to update it. 
> 
> I'm gonna do it, so I hope you like the rest of it! :)


	2. Climb up

"Go where?" Jaebeom frowned, finding that request very weird.

"To Seoul," The boy replied excitedly.

Jaebeom rolled his eyes, looking at the clock on his wrist, time was running out, according to their researches, the house workers began their tasks at 6 o'clock in the morning and it was almost 5:00, he lost so much time already he didn't have even a minute to deal with this boy and he had to get out now if he didn’t want to get caught.

"Do you want to go to Seoul with me?"

Youngjae grimaced, “Are you going to repeat everything? It's what I just said.”

"Why?"

"Next week there’s a light festival in town," Youngjae explained, taking his cell phone from the nightstand to look for a screenshot of the ad, "I want you to take me there."

Jaebeom looked at the ad a little puzzled, he knew there would be a festival - there was one every single year, but what he didn't understand was why the boy was talking about going to Seoul when he should be more concerned about the stranger who entered his house at night.

He shook his head confused, the wrinkles between his forehead becoming prominent, "Are you the son of Director Choi?"

"Yes."

He didn’t even know the man had a son, he knew his wife had died a long time ago, but there wasn’t a single line of information indicating that he had more family, he wasn’t listed in any of their investigations, and if they wanted that to turn out well, they couldn’t have overlooked that detail.

"I don't think you need help going to Seoul, ask your driver or whatever. I’m getting out of here."

"Hey!" Youngjae screamed almost desperately, but the tone he adopted later was threatening, “If you leave this room you’ll go to jail. You and your friends, Jinyoung and... Mark? One of them is named Tuan, right?”

"Shit..." Jaebeom whispered under his breath, and glared at him angrily. Youngjae smiled a little.

"I am going to Seoul with you." He declared no giving rise to contradictions, and Jaebeom rolled his eyes.

"And what assures me that you won’t report me when you get what you want?"

The boy was silent thinking a minute before answering, "What do you want?"

"Get out of here, that."

Youngjae snorted, "No genius, what are you looking for from the safe?"

"Do you know where it is?!"

"Dha!"

Jaebeom growled, starting to hate this boy, "I want the emperor's crystal."

Youngjae nodded, Jaebeom was talking about a rare piece that had belonged to his family for centuries, a gem that was apparently worn by Korean royalty in feudal times.

It was passed down from generation to generation - it was a highly prized type of red diamond and he knew his father had millionaire deals for it, but they had never wanted to sell it. It made sense that the thief wanted that specific object.

"I'll give it to you."

He says with a shrug as if it wasn't a big deal, he didn't care much for the item in question, he had only seen it twice in his life and it wasn't as amazing as they made it look, and what was the use of keeping it? If they wanted it, he was willing to give it, as long as it meant his freedom.

Jaebeom laughed dryly, "What are you saying? Seriously?" he looked at him incredulously.

"After the festival, bring me back and I'll give you the crystal. It’ll be yours. It's not that difficult to understand, Jaebeom."

"Yes, of course and when we get back you’ll have an army here ready to arrest us. I don’t think so. We’ll do this; give me the crystal now and I'll take you to the festival.”

Youngjae rolled his eyes, couldn't believe this guy feel like he had the power to plead something when he could easily go to jail right then and there, “Uh-huh, so you can run away later and leave me to my fate out there? No, and I don't think you're in a position to demand anything here, you’ll have to trust.”

Jaebeom thought about it for a second, that diamond would make them rich, it was the sole purpose of having risked so much to enter that house - the money they would give them for it would be enough to let them live comfortably the rest of their lives.

But the boy might as well be setting him up. Why, of all things, would he ask him to take him to Seoul? It was even stupid, he could go out by the front door anytime he wanted.

On the other hand, if he had wanted to, he would have already called the police and it wasn’t such a difficult request to fulfill either. If the boy wanted to sneak out of his own house, it was none of his business.

"I want a guarantee."

"What? Do you want me to give you a half and then the other?” Youngjae rolled his eyes and Jaebeom snorted.

“Let me see the diamond. Take it out of the safe and bring it here. It’ll stay in this room and when we come back, I’ll take it.”

It was reasonable, the first thing the thief was asking that could actually make sense. "Okay, come on."

Jaebeom still doubted the veracity of the whole thing, he really couldn't understand whatever that boy was planning, but he followed him down the wide corridor anyway, they went downstairs and Youngjae led him down to a small hallway behind the stairs to the kitchen.

"Hey!" Jaebeom called him half annoyed, half panicked, weren't they supposed to go to the safe? In the damn kitchen everyone was going to see him, he really was stupid for having trusted in that boy.

"Shh!" Youngjae cut him off by putting a finger to his lips, and nodding for him to follow.

It was a large kitchen, Jaebeom noticed a moment later, worthy of any high-end restaurant - rich people really were something else.

They reached a back door, Jaebeom figured it was the one employees used to go in and out the mansion, and Jaebeom felt more vulnerable than ever - someone could come in suddenly and he’ll be screwed.

With quicker steps, they reached another door behind the house, locked with an electronic key - Youngjae entered the 6 numbers of the password and a long flight of stairs opened for them leading to what seemed like the house’s basement.

They went downstairs in silence, but not before Youngjae closed the door behind them, and they walked down a narrow corridor to another door, also coded to enter.

Jaebeom rolled his eyes, desperate, he knew that this object was valuable and expensive but it really needed so much security?

Now that he thought about it, even if he had found the entrance to the basement in time, he probably wouldn't have been able to open all the doors, not without Mark, who was their specialist hacker.

When Youngjae opened the door, Jaebeom imagined a treasure room, filled with shelves of gold and jewels around and in the center, a large sideboard with the emperor's crystal housed in a glass vault.

He couldn't be more wrong, it looked like any other studio, an old desk in the center, a couple of armchairs and bookcases around.

The thief then thought that Youngjae would open a secret hatch or passage behind a bookcase but none of that happened.

What the boy did was sit at the desk, Jaebeom watched as he entered another pair of numbers on a keyboard embedded in the wood, which opened for him the door of a large drawer on the desk, revealing the safe that he and his friends were looking for.

Youngjae, with the ease with which he had done everything so far, opened the safe, pulling out a blue velvet box and handing it to him.

"There you go," he said with a smile, closing the safe, the drawer and putting the combinations of everything back, as if they had never touched anything.

Jaebeom, suddenly excited, opened the box and to his delight found what he was looking for, the red crystal that Youngjae had promised sparkling on a cushion surrounded by other little diamonds, making a way for a heavy necklace.

The guy smiled admiring the piece, being able to imagine all the money he was going to receive after that and counting the bills in his mind, when Youngjae took him by the arm, rushing him out of there.

The return to Youngjae's room was way more rushed, the boy pulled him to walk quickly and looked around every three seconds, as if someone was chasing them. It didn't take long for Jaebeom to realize that it was dawn and that the employees were probably already beginning their tasks.

Once inside the security of the bedroom, Jaebeom opened the box in his hands to admire the crystal and heard Youngjae snort softly, suddenly snatching the box from his hands.

"Then we have a deal don't we?"

Jaebeom nodded, "I’ll take you to Seoul."

The smile Youngjae answered him with was huge and bright, it seemed it was going to cut his face in two at any second and suddenly, he jumped all over the place.

"Are you this happy?"

Youngjae looked up with a dreamy look, "I've always wanted to go out."

Jaebeom couldn't understand exactly what he was referring to, he frowned and watched the boy throw himself onto the bed and writhe like a happy worm.

"How is that?" He wondered and the whole atmosphere suddenly fell, becoming heavy and uncomfortable - quite the opposite of what happened a second earlier.

"Just saying," Youngjae shrugged without looking at him, he didn't want to talk to the thief about it and he, for his part, didn't try to investigate the matter further, after all it didn't matter if he had what he wanted.

"Very good little prince", Jaebeom sighs looking at the clock on his phone, he had miles of missed calls from his two friends but surely they’ll forgive him when he informed them he got what they were looking for, "We have to go out now. Get dressed, you don't want to go in your pajamas, do you?"

Youngjae rolls his eyes at the nickname, but he didn't want to fight right now that he's finally going to walk through that door so he dressed as quickly as possible under the thief's scrutiny and stuffs the jewel box into a drawer in his closet, under a pile of clothing, Jaebeom was looking nervously at the clock.

"Let's go!" Youngjae announced when he was ready, trying not to sound too excited and noticed that Jaebeom avoided remarking how late it was getting by just going to the door.

"Wait!" The boy stopped him and went back to the closet, "I have to bring clothes for the next days."

"Damn! We don't have time for that shit, let's go now!"

Jaebeom went after him and grabbed his arm, pulling him forcibly as the other struggled to get away, "My wallet at least! Let go of me!"

"Do you want to go to Seoul or not? Shit."

"Why are you mad? It’ll take only a second."

During the struggle, he heard the door handle moving, both of them freezing at see someone push the door from outside, as if struggling with the lock.

"Youngjae?" A female voice was heard and a knock on the door followed. "Are you awake already?"

"Heck," Youngjae whispered under his breath, shoving Jaebeom into the wall and covering his mouth with his hand, like he was going to hide him like that.

"Yeah, I'm getting dressed." He replied nervously sticking his body even closer to Jaebeom’s, who was still staring at the door.

"I bring your tea and your vitamins," the voice answered back, "Take it before going down to breakfast."

Youngjae looked at the other puzzled, so blocked that he doesn't realize how close their faces were.

"Open the door.”

"In a minute!"

Jaebeom could barely move under the boy's grasp, but he thought faster than the boy and signaled at the closet with his head. That seemed to make the boy react, who nodded and took him by the hand to hide him in his closet, he chose a corner and hid Jaebeom behind a pile of clothes, making sure that he couldn't see him through the mirror.

"Don't move," he whispered to the clothes and rushed to the door to take what his nanny offered her.

"Thanks," he said after taking the pills on the tray and drinking the tea almost in one gulp.

"You're good?" Kimmy asked, noting that he was acting a little weird, "About your father yesterday..."

"Yeah, it’s nothing.” He replied with a shrug, trying to sound disappointed, his father had sent him a message that morning telling him again that they had to be careful, that it was dangerous and that was why he couldn't go out. "Anyway, it was obvious that he would say no."

"When you grow up," she said, showing him a sympathetic smile.

"I'm 18, Kimmy. It doesn't matter, it doesn't really matter anymore. Can you bring me breakfast downstairs?”

His nanny patted his shoulder softly, and nodding she left the room with the tray and closed the door behind her. As soon as she leaved, Youngjae came to Jaebeom’s rescue, who’s still hidden in his clothes.

"She's gone, but I don't think we can get out now."

Jaebeom sighed wearily, this was exactly what he was trying to avoid, staying there longer than he should have, but now there was nothing to do. He sent a text to Jinyoung saying that everything was fine, that he had the necklace and they should wait for him that night in the same place. He didn’t give details about the little deal with the Choi boy, first of all they didn’t know of his existence and he would have to explain everything when they saw each other anyway.

"Well, I think now you can take the time to fix your things to go out." He says sarcastically, throwing himself into the boy’s bed as if he was in his own house, getting comfortable and turned on the television looking for a channel with something good to watch.

"What are you doing?"

"What? We’re going to be here all day right? Or are you going to give me a tour around your house?”

Youngjae rolled his eyes, kicking Jaebeom to force him to get up off his mattress. "Let’s go downstairs. No one go in there never and it's more fun than my room anyway. ”

He soon understood what he was referring to, that room was the dream of every teenager and many adults in the world. A whole gameroom and just for him - consoles of all types and generations, gigantic computer screens, special keyboards, VR player, and a gigantic television screen, the boy had a fucking movie theater in his own house. Having money it was really something different, that's why a stupid diamond didn't matter to him.

“Wow.”

"Eat something if you want." Youngjae ignored him and pointed to a table with a pile of food. “I'm going for my things, nobody is going to come down so just stay here. And don't touch anything.”

Jaebeom laughed, "I have to be in here all day, and I can't even watch a movie?"

The other looked at him, rolling his eyes, “Okay, you can use the projector. Don't touch the pc set.”

"As you like, little prince." But he was already busy looking for movies to watch. He heard Youngjae snort behind him and he laughed, not understanding what bothered him so much.

* * *

Youngjae didn't go downstairs again until late, after being sure that all the employees had retired to their respective rooms in the cottage at the back reserved for them, once the mansion was completely empty.

He brought a small backpack with enough clothes for a week, his wallet, charger and nothing else - it was all he needed. He also left a letter for Kimmy in the kitchen, telling her he was going to town but not mentioning anything about Jaebeom. 

He asked her not to say anything, that he would come back before his father returned and he hoped that she would understand and not call his father or something, he didn’t want to make a fuss over this when it would only be a few days, he would also have his phone with him all the time.

Jaebeom was asleep on the couch with everything turned off and Youngjae crept up, trying to wake him up as gently as possible so as not to scare him. He gently shook his shoulder, whispering his name but that only made the boy turn around, muttering something he didn't understand.

"Jaebeom..." he tried again, this time patting his back harder, "Jaebeom!"

"What what?" He woke up at last, somewhat startled, trying to locate where he was until he saw Youngjae and remembered what he was doing there. He closed his eyes tight to chase away what was left of the sleepiness, "What time is it?"

"12 o'clock. They all left already."

"All right. Do you have your things? ”

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

Youngjae followed Jaebeom around his house, his heart was beating fast inside his chest, he didn't know if he was more nervous than excited but he was definitely dying to get out of there.

Jaebeom led him through the garden, crossing to farthest side of the entrance, walking fast and careful not to go through a bright spot, Youngjae still hadn't figured out the plan but he asked no questions and followed him until he reached the back fence.

"And now that?" He finally asked when Jaebeom stood still for a long time looking at his phone.

"They're going to open up the door for us." He explained naturally and Youngjae opened his mouth in surprise.

"Is there a door here?!"

"Shhh! Don’t yell!" He said, stifling his own screams, trying to calm him down, "Obviously not."

"So?"

"That." He said pointing to a thick rope they threw from the other side, and Jaebeom began to push some bricks of the wall, explaining, “We lasted weeks loosening this so we could move them. On the other side there’s a ladder. I hope you know how to climb, little prince.”

"Cut that little prince shit, will you?" He growls at him, "And yes Jaebeom, I can climb without your help."

Jaebeom rolled his eyes, but he was smiling, probably waiting for the boy to fail, "Okay, then go up."

Youngjae didn’t lie when he said he could climb perfectly fine, holding his feet in the spaces left by the moved bricks and slowly moving up with the rope. The wall was a bit high, but he was getting closer and closer to his freedom.

"I’m close," he whispered to himself as the muscles in his arms began to burn, and he forced himself up without losing sight of the end of the wall.

When he almost reached the top, he no longer had enough strength to propel himself up and jump to the other side, his arms trembled and he couldn’t let go of the rope or he would fall. 

Now he was going to stand there against a wall forever until his arms fell asleep completely and he fell. He couldn't die there, he had to get out.

"Come on," Jaebeom spoke to him, his voice cracking because the effort, he was right below him, Youngjae hadn't even realized he was climbing too and looking at him he felt a horrible urge to puke. He closed his eyes tightly and clung to the rope even more, his hands starting to burn as well, he imagined his skin would be torn by now.

"I can't," he whispered pitifully, trying not to look down and concentrating as little as possible on the pain.

“Yes, you can,” he felt Jaebeom move beneath him and a moment later he felt his hand wrap around his ankle and pull his leg up to stick his foot between other bricks he hadn't seen were moved too. "Youngjae, push yourself up, come on."

He said but Youngjae shook his head, unable to move another inch. Jaebeom groaned, moving as close to his body as he could, securing his feet into the wall and with great difficulty grabbed the other by his butt, pushing him hard. "Climb up!" He yelled at him or what he tried to make a yell because he could hardly breathe.

With Jaebeom's hand propelling him up, he didn't have as much trouble finishing the climb as half the force wasn’t his, and he was finally able to sit on the wall feeling his arms and legs slowly die.

Sitting there, it no longer looked so tall or scary, there was an extendable ladder beside him, and below, he could see two people looking up, each holding one side of the ladder.

"Shit," Jaebeom exclaimed beside him as he finished climbing too, "I hope this time you don't stand on the ladder for half an hour."

Youngjae clucked his tongue, grimacing, and hit him with what little strength he had left, though Jaebeom was also sore enough that the soft punch hurt him.

"Ouch! Why was that!"

"For touching my ass."

“You were going to stay there forever if I didn't do something! Fuck." He complained, crawling over his legs to reach the ladder, "Just hurry up."

Going down was definitely easier, more if they had a ladder and they didn’t have to use with ropes. While going down he made sure to look up all the time because he didn't want to get dizzy again and carefully standing on the steps, making sure to set foot on each step correctly before leaning completely his weight. Occasionally looking down to see if it wasn’t long to reach the floor and he noticed that, as they went down, Jaebeom put the bricks in place again.

When he finally jumped onto dry land he felt as if even the air felt different than inside the mansion and he took time to enjoy it, ignoring the three boys who were waiting for him below and he started laughing and spinning while dancing something that only he could hear in his head. He was outside, he really was outside.

"Jaebeom... who is he?" He heard a voice and he stopped to see the two new faces that looked at him with weird faces.

Jaebeom sighed, "This is Youngjae, it turns out the Choi had a son."

"And you bring him here?!" Exclaimed a pale boy with black hair, as if Youngjae couldn't hear him, "Are you insane?"

"He's going to come with us."

"What?!"

"Do you have the necklace?" Asked the other boy, thinner and with blond hair, also talking as if Youngjae wasn’t present, "You have it, don't you? Does he know you have it?”

"Not quite. Can I explain later? I just want to get out of here.” Jaebeom said tiredly, sighing heavily and looked at Youngjae, pointing first to the black-haired boy, and then to the blonde one, “He’s Jinyoung and this is Mark. Let's go."

"No, Jaebeom!" Jinyoung held him by the arm to keep him from leaving, "What are we going to do with him?"

Youngjae interfered, “I won't bother you, I just want to go to Seoul and I don't care about the diamond. It’ll only be a few days and then Jaebeom’s gonna bring me back, right?”

"Why do you want to go to Seoul with us?" Jinyoung questioned looking at him strictly.

"Jinyoungie," Mark said this time, very softly, "Can they tell us along the way? I don't think we should stay here. ”

"No! Jaebeom explain, now. Where's the necklace?”

"In his bedroom." Jaebeom says and both friends look at him angrily, about to explode, “He’ll give it to me when we bring him back, okay? He helped me with the safe because you guys were useless for that. He already said he doesn't care, Youngjae just wants to go to the festival. We take him there and when we come back he’ll give us the thing.”

Jinyoung growled in frustration, “And didn’t went through your mind that they might search for him? Incriminate us for kidnapping?”

"Ah.” Jaebeom looked down, “No… well not really.”

"That won’t happen!" Youngjae yelled desperately, “I just want to get out of the house. No one is going to look for me, I swear. Please?"

That seemed to more or less soften Jinyoung, they all were taken aback. Mark spoke this time, looking at him carefully. "Why? Do they... treat you well there? In your house, is everything okay?”

"Yes but..." Youngjae sighed, he would have to tell them the truth if he wanted them to take him with them, "I just... I'm not allowed to leave the mansion, okay? My father’s on a trip and the employees won't say anything. I just want to go to the festival and then come back. I’ll give you the crystal you want.”

"You’re not allowed?" Jaebeom asked confused, “What do you mean?”

"Just that, I can’t go out the house. My father thinks it's dangerous..."

"Have you... never been in the city before?" 

Youngjae shook his head and the three friends looked at each other with a mixture of surprise and confusion, Jaebeom understood then why he was so happy of having run away. 

“You’re like… hostage?” Jaebeom asked concerned, “Are you really okay?”

“Not a hostage!” Youngjae clarified quickly, he didn’t want them to think bad about his father either, “My dad just want to keep me safe, but I’m fine. I just wanna go to the festival, okay?”

Mark looked at his two friends, and silently agreed that they would take him with them. They didn't ask any more questions although Youngjae knew it would be asked sooner or later.

Mark with Jinyoung busied themselves folding the ladder and putting it up their truck, Jaebeom stayed there, looking at him a moment longer, as if trying to read him.

"What?" Youngjae snapped, trying to sound angry and not sad as he was suddenly feeling. He was ashamed admitting he had never step outside his house.

Jaebeom pursed his lips, but his gaze softened a bit too much, it was so different than the way he looked at him a moment ago, in the house. "Nothing, come on. Is there something you want to do? Besides the festival.”

Youngjae's heart skipped a beat excitedly, his smile was huge, "Can we go to an ice cream place too?"

"Have you never eaten ice cream?!"

Youngjae rolled his eyes, "Of course I did, but I want to go to those places where you can put lots of toppings and mix different flavors, you know? Where they weigh it and everything.”

"Oh. We can take you too, if you want."

“And a karaoke! I want to go to a karaoke room!” He jumped dreamily.

Jaebeom smiled a little, finding it very cute how excited he was, "Fine."

Youngjae walked away listing all the things he wanted to try when they got to the city, Mark stopped Jaebeom before he could get into the truck, to avoid the boy hearing what he was about to say and they watched him get into the car with Jinyoung, who was laughing at something he was saying.

"Tell me this isn’t going to cause us problems."

Jaebeom thought about it a bit, he wanted to say no but actually he felt like they had just gotten into a very fat one. He just shrugged, "Let’s do whatever he wants and get the crystal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ho ho cham
> 
> That took longer that I thought but here's finally the second part wooo! 
> 
> I'm congratulating myself xD 
> 
> After this one, I think funny things are going to happen but who knows. 
> 
> Hope you like it! :) See yah!


	3. Bubbles

Youngjae was excited, as soon as they entered the city and he could see live all the buildings and the river and even the lights of the cars he saw outside his window excited him. He wanted to get out of the truck and walk, see everything up close - in his eyes everything was amazing and new. He wanted to ask them to stop but it was almost 3 in the morning, there would be time for that when it dawned.

They drove for a while longer, Youngjae almost fell asleep but he couldn't even close his eyes, he didn't want to miss a thing. And finally they stopped in front of an apartment building, Mark looked at Jaebeom in the rearview mirror.

"I think Youngjae had better stay with you."

Jaebeom rolled his eyes but he was too tired to argue, he grabbed his backpack and gestured to Youngjae to get out of the truck, "Come on."

Youngjae also took his things and saying goodbye to the other two boys, Jinyoung smiled at him but immediately changed his gaze to a harder one as he addressed Jaebeom.

"See you tomorrow at the office." He said but the other didn't even answer him, instead telling Youngjae to go up with him.

"Thieves have offices?" He asked almost mockingly although he was ignored, it didn't matter, he was more busy watching Jaebeom swipe a card in a reader next to the elevator doors, ‘7th Floor’ appeared on the screen and the letter C, that of the assigned elevator. It surprised him a little, he didn't expect Jaebeom to live in such a luxurious place. He wondered how he lived so well off and still thieve - or maybe that was why he had money.

He had never been on an elevator before, it didn't feel like anything he had imagined, it didn't feel like anything to tell the truth but it was still weird. He jumped up suddenly and the elevator shook a little. 

Jaebeom looked at him in horror, "What the fuck?"

Youngjae started laughing, "I just wanted to know what’s going to happen."

"It’s going to fall off, that’s what going to happen."

"Huh... there it says that it supports 150 kg, I don't think it’ll fall if I jump," He said, illustrating his theory by jumping again, Jaebeom held onto the wall and looked suddenly ill.

"Stop."

"Are you afraid of elevators?"

"No." He replied closing his eyes tightly. Youngjae smiled, it seemed he was to him.

When they stopped at his apartment floor, they stepped out into a hallway with a door on each end, Jaebeom pointed to the door on the left, entered a code on the digital lock, and opened the door for Youngjae.

Youngjae thought that since the boy lived in a luxurious complex, there would be a splurge of money wasted on the decor as well, but it was the complete opposite of that.

The apartment was entirely white, from the walls and doors to the carpeting. The furniture, in contrast, was black - he could see the couch, kitchen cabinets and the benches on the kitchen island. It looked elegant despite being very simple, the only colored decorations were some pictures hanging on the wall, he went over to look at the paintings, they were beautiful, the signature at the bottom of each piece read "Def".

A small ball of hair tangled in his feet, and Youngjae smiled taking the kitten in his arms.

"Hello you," he greeted it sweetly, he loved animals, he always wanted to have a dog but for some reason he never understood, pets were something his father had never allowed him to have. "What’s your name?"

"That’s Odd." Jaebeom replied behind him, and pointed to two other kittens watching them from the hallway, "Those are Kunta and Cake. She’s Nora." He said showing a kitten in his arms, "Beire must be hiding over there."

"How many do you have?"

"Only 5."

Youngjae raised his eyebrows, 5 cats didn’t seem like a small thing to him but hey, if he could he would also have his house full of cats and dogs, horses and even hamsters, whatever it is as to not be alone. "They’re very pretty."

Jaebeom smiled for the first time since he saw him in his bedroom, his eyes turning two small slits, he looked just like his kittens, "Yeah."

He left Nora on the floor, and walked over to Youngjae to scratch Odd's ears absentmindedly.

"Jinyoung and Mark live here with you?"

"Never." Jaebeom faked a chill, Youngjae didn't understand how bad it was to live with your friends.

"Why did they decide me to stay with you?"

"Because I live alone I guess. They share their apartment and believe me, you don't want to stay with them."

"Why?"

Jaebeom smirked, "It can be very noisy at night, if you know what I mean."

"Ah." Youngjae blushed slightly.

"Anyway, they must have thought I had enough room here but I don't have another bed," he motioned with his arm for him to follow him around the rest of the apartment, "That's my room and here’s the bathroom. And that other room I use it as a studio so you can't sleep there. You'll have to stay on the couch."

"Are you going to make me sleep on the couch?"

"Oh sorry, your highness, where did you expect to stay?"

Youngjae rolled his eyes, "In a bed, if there's only one, let me use yours, I'm your guest, right?"

Jaebeom laughed dryly, "Never. I have back problems and I'm not going to sacrifice for you. You'll have to get used to the life of commoners, little prince."

"Can I have a pillow at least, Mr. hospitality?"

The thief looked like he was going to fight back with something else but stopped after thinking it over and nodded. From his room he took out a pillow and a blanket and carried it to the sofa, where he arranged everything for him. Youngjae left Odd on the floor and sat down - it didn't feel so uncomfortable, he would survive.

"I'm tired," Jaebeom yawned as if on cue, "Do you want something else?"

Youngjae shook his head, "Thanks."

"Okay, sleep well little prince."

"Jaebeom?" Youngjae called him just before he entered his room, the other turned around, waiting for what he had to say, "Seriously, thank you."

Jaebeom nodded, he just brought him to Seoul, it wasn't a big deal, "Sure. Get some rest."

The boy smiled, "Sleep tight."

* * *

When he woke up, instantly he caught a soft smell of coffee, it smelled good and he could hear Jaebeom humming a song, it felt warm, more homey than he had ever felt.

He always woke up alone, breakfast was ready for him very early, he ate alone and this felt like a real home.

"Hi," he greeted sitting on the kitchen island, watching the other cook something, it was weird, he didn’t know Jaebeom could cook.

"Hey."

"What are you cooking?"

"Breakfast."

"Uhm... can I eat too?"

Jaebeom finally turned around and looked at him with an expression between amused and teasing, "Did you think I was going to starve you?"

Youngjae shrugged, not exactly that but perhaps he didn't want to share anything more with him now that he was forced to have him at home.

Jaebeom sat across from him, and Youngjae watched him eat scrambled eggs with ham in silence, making no move to give him a plate too - perhaps he was really going to starve in that house.

"What? Aren't you going to eat?" The guy asked when Youngjae's gaze on him turned annoying.

"Can l?"

"I told you, you can. There’s enough for both of us."

"But you sat down to breakfast without..."

Jaebeom frowned at him, "Help yourself."

"Oh yeah, right."

Youngjae stood up quickly, his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. How did it occur to him that Jaebeom was going to serve him as they did at home where everything was always ready for him? It was silly of him but he was used to something else.

He was going to eat the food left on the stove, but his eyes lingered on a box of colored cereal balls in the cupboard.

"Can I have cereal?!" He asked, completely failing in hide his excitement.

"Have you never eaten cereal?!" The thief asked in turn, he had the same expression on his face as when he asked if he had never eaten ice cream and Youngjae rolled his eyes, reaching for the box and looking for a plate in another drawer.

"Obviously yes, but homemade." Theoretically, he had never eaten cereal from a box, he always imagined what it would be like to eat cereal in a college flat. Jaebeom didn’t live as a student but this worked out perfectly.

"Homemade?"

"From the chef."

"Weirdo. Are rich people always like this?"

"You’re not exactly austere."

"I eat Froot Loops like a normal person. Also, I wasn't always rich."

Youngjae returned to his place in front of the other with a smile on his face, "Is all your money stolen?"

Jaebeom looked at him with interest, wanting to catch his first impression of the cereal, "My money is  _ not _ stolen."

Youngjae paid no attention to the latter, finally shoving a spoonful of the colorful flakes into his mouth. He smiled immediately, looking at Jaebeom and pointing to the plate happily, this tasted like just sugar with flavorings but it was delicious, a thousand times better than that oatmeal cereal he ate at home.

"Verdict?"

"So weird!"

"But?"

"But delicious."

"You’re the weird, little prince." Jaebeom smiled, they stared at each other and smiled silently for what seemed like forever, and Youngjae wondered if this was what it felt like to have breakfast with a boyfriend.

He blushed instantly, looking away. Not that he thought of Jaebeom as someone special or anything, he just sometimes wondered what the things he was never going to have were like.

"What are we going to do today?" He asked, still staring at the cereal, scooping spoon after spoon into his mouth.

"We have to go with Jinyoung and Mark, there are matters to be settled. Then we can do whatever you want."

"We can just go for a walk today and I don't know, look around."

"You want to walk?" Jaebeom seemed a little skeptical, it was almost like he thought it was a stupid idea.

"Well, yes." The boy replied pouting angrily, "I've never seen the city, alright? I want to do stupid things like go to a mall and a convenience store.”

"Oh. Sorry." The other looked down somewhat embarrassed, it was difficult to remember that the boy had been locked up all his life and something as simple as that meant more to him than to anyone. "We can walk around and eat ramen in the store, would you like to?"

"Yeah." Youngjae answered still with the pout on his face, of course he wanted to do all those things a normal student would do but he wasn't going to be all happy in front of Jaebeom just because of that.

He heard Jaebeom sigh, he was probably trying to suppress a mocking smile. "Finish breakfast, we have to see the others soon."

"What? In your thieves' club?” He commented mockingly and Jaebeom grimaced.

"Yeah, and we’ll walk so you’ll see the street and everything."

Youngjae rolled his eyes, he knew he was teasing him too but it didn't matter, he could bear whatever it was in order to finally do whatever he wanted.

* * *

He wasn't going to be remarkably excited about going outside, Jaebeom was going to make fun of him and also all the people around, what they were going to think about him?

On the other hand, Jaebeom was always teasing him and it was highly unlikely that he would see all those people again anyway, so taking the risk of looking like an idiot, he didn't wipe the smile off his face, getting close to everything that caught his attention along the way.

He felt so free and happy, with the sounds of cars honking, people crashing into each other on the busy streets, even the unpleasant smell of smog was so new that it didn't bother him.

"Get yourself together, prince." He heard Jaebeom whisper under his breath when he inadvertently pirouetted in the middle of the street but he was ignored, he had just seen a puppy and had to go pet him.

"This is great!" He said once Jaebeom dragged him away from the dog and its owner, before a conversation began between the two of them. "Can we go to one of those dog cafes?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you want."

"Ah!" He exclaimed, pointing to a sideboard in a cafeteria showing a promotion of two bubble teas for the price of one, "And I want one of these."

Jaebeom raised an eyebrow, "Have you never have...?"

"Yes, I have tried it before." Youngjae cut him off by rolling his eyes, “Do you think they had me in a dungeon or what? I just want to buy it by myself, yeah?”

"Fine," the other raised his hands as if in surrender, how he was going to know the things he did or not? "You can buy one in our way back."

That was better than nothing, so he followed him in silence, they reached a modern 5-story building and went up to the top floor, Youngjae didn't know what he was expecting to see but it was just an almost empty place with 3 desks and computers for each one and nothing else. A little disappointing, honestly.

"Youngjae!" Jinyoung was the first to greet him, with a smile, "Did you sleep well?"

Youngjae nodded and greeted Mark who was busy typing something quickly on the computer and barely waved back.

"So," Jaebeom sat on a chair, there was a picture of Nora on the desk, "I guess we need to talk about the diamond."

Jinyoung pursed his lips slightly, "Yes, but first… Uhm… Youngjae have you talked to anyone? From your house?"

"Oh, no one knows about the crystal you want."

"It's not that but… they know about you? That you're okay?"

"Jinyoung means that if they know that you run away by your will."

"We don't want them to think you were kidnapped or something." Mark ends the explanation of the other two friends turning at last to look at him.

Neither seemed particularly upset, they were probably concerned that they would be blamed, as Jinyoung said the night before.

"Ah, no problem!" Youngjae exclaimed confidently, "I got a text from my nanny today and she knows that I am fine. I also told her not to warn my father and that I’ll be back after the festival. As long as I text her daily, no one in the house will say anything."

"That sounds good," Jinyoung sighed more calmly, "And about the diamond... We have to report to Jung today."

Jaebeom looked at Youngjae for a second, as if doubtful, "Tell him we have it."

"Ah yeah, the problem is that we don't have it." Mark said rolling his eyes.

"What do we do?" Jinyoung asked looking at Jaebeom and he in turn looked at Youngjae out of the corner of his eye.

"We have it."

"But…"

"He said he was going to give it to us, right?" This time the 3 of them stared at Youngjae, the boy nodded quickly.

"Yes! It's a deal. I'll give it to you as soon as I get home. You can consider it's already yours."

"That's it then," Jaebeom relaxed in the chair, as if there was nothing more to say, "Let's say the job’s done and the delivery will be next week, as agreed."

Jinyoung and Mark looked at each other still doubtful, Youngjae intervened again.

"I swear. We even got it out of the safe and everything, right?" He looked at Jaebeom desperately, as if he needed someone's approval or trust. He feared that if they didn’t believe him, they would leave him alone in the city. "Can I give you a guarantee?"

Jaebeom laughed out loud, "What, are you going to give us half and then the other half?" referencing what Youngjae had said when he asked for the same thing.

The boy rolled his eyes, "Well no but… can I give you something else?"

"Any other rare and expensive jewelry you have to spare?"

Jaebeom was just molesting him, but now that he thought about it, and that they were the ones in control there, the guarantee thing didn't seem so dumb.

"Can I give you money or..."

"Forget it," Jaebeom cut him off, looking at his friends, "He's going to give us the diamond and the plan remains the same."

Jinyoung sighed, "Fine."

"If you say so."

"Are you going to do something interesting today?" Jinyoung asked Youngjae leaving the diamond topic as fast as they started talking about it, Youngjae was a little surprised that they actually listened to Jaebeom, because of the way Jinyoung spoke to him the day before, he thought the leader was him.

"It depends what you call interesting, Youngjae just wants to do stupid things like look around, right?"

Youngjae grimaced, "You’re stupid."

Jinyoung and Mark laughed heartily and the other rolled his eyes, Youngjae seemed satisfied with the reaction and talked to the other two, "We’re buying bubble tea, do you wanna come?"

Mark shook his head, "Jinyoungie and I have a job to finish today, but maybe tomorrow?"

Youngjae nodded, "Do you want to go to a karaoke?"

"I’m in!" Jinyoung replied, raising his hand.

"Me too," Mark joins them looking curiously at the boy's expression, who turned to see Jaebeom excitedly.

"We’re going to a karaoke," he informed the other with a smile, Jaebeom smiled back at him.

"It’ll be fun," he said, and Youngjae couldn't identify if he was serious or sarcastic this time but hoped it would be the first option. "Now let's go, those bubble teas aren’t going to buy by itselves."

Youngjae quickly moved to the door, sure, to be with Jinyoung and Mark was interesting but the city was waiting.

"See you tomorrow hyungs!" He said goodbye to them and Jaebeom frowned.

"Why are they hyungs and I'm not? I'm older."

Youngjae shrugged, "I like them better."

Jinyoung laughed, "Bye Youngjae, don't let Jaebeom bother you too much."

"He's the one who bothers me, you know?" The other complained but his friend just shrugged.

"Wait Jaebeom," Mark called him, motioning for him to come over and the next thing he asked quietly although Youngjae had already left, there was no way he would hear them.

"Can we trust him?"

Jaebeom sighed, glancing at him and Jinyoung alternately a few times, "You can trust me."

His two friends didn't look surer, but they had no other choice.

* * *

“Why do the others have work and you don't? Don’t you work together?” Youngjae asked curiously as they headed to the drinks promotion store.

Jaebeom shrugged, “I already did my part, the rest depends on them alone. They don't need me there.”

"And now they’re going to steal a jewelry store or something?"

"We don't steal jewelry stores."

"Ah yeah, yeah. Just houses, then? How about banks?”

"No banks. We just go where the valuable things are.”

"Money is valuable." Youngjae reflected, if they didn't rob banks, or passers-by’ wallets, or stores’ cash or jewelry boxes, he couldn't think of what else they might rob. Well, they entered his house but from the stupid way that Jaebeom entered his room he didn't think he had much experience in that.

"It is."

"And where do you steal it from?"

"We don't steal money."

"So?"

Jaebeom smiled, shaking his head, "Do you think I'm going to tell you?"

"It's not like I'm going to tell the police, is it?" Youngjae looked up at him trying to put out his better innocent eyes, “I'm just curious. It seems you have a lot of money, where do you steal it from? Exchange houses? Are you scammers?!”

"My money isn’t stolen, I already told you." Jaebeom sighed wearily, anyway, the boy was a questioner and wouldn't shut up unless he explained it, "I earn it honestly, working hard."

"Oh, and what do you work on?"

The thief smirked, "I get paid to get valuable items."

"Stealing it." For a second he really believed he had a real job.

"Of course, if it were viable otherwise they wouldn't pay me that much for it."

"And what kind of things?"

“Relics. Rare jewelry most of the time, sometimes pieces of art.”

The boy made a surprise gesture, he never imagined that there were thieves specialized in something, pieces of art… it was impressive. "So the paintings in your apartment..."

"I painted those myself." Jaebeom explained, “We never keep anything. When the police track the stolen objects, it’s impossible for us to be linked to the theft, neither us nor the person who paid for it. That’s why we make so much money. Steal banks? Please, what I do is high class.”

Youngjae rolled his eyes, high class in an illegal activity? But apparently the thief was offended even by being put in the same bucket as a simple money thief. He gave him some credit however, relics sounded a lot more upmarket than cash register or wallets.

"They’re beautiful."

"What?"

“Def’s paintings.”

"Ah. Thank you? I guess." If Youngjae wasn't hallucinating, he saw Jaebeom blush at those words. That made him smile a little, he looked tough on the outside, behaving sarcastic and stupid but how cute could he actually be if he blushed like that for a simple compliment?

"And what do they do with the things?"

"What things?"

"The ones that people pay you to steal. If they’re stolen, it’s obvious they can’t be showing it off out there.”

“With jewelry it’s easier, they change their shape, give them a new name and bam! A new millennial family heirloom at tripled cost. The pieces of art is more difficult. Sometimes they keep them, sometimes they sell them to museums in another country.” Jaebeom shrugged, opening the door to the bubble tea shop and gesturing for Youngjae to enter first. "That’s no longer my problem."

It made sense to Youngjae, Jaebeom's only job was to steal things. If those who hired him were stupid enough to show themselves after a job done cleanly, it was no longer their fault. They shouldn't worry about what they did next with those things.

He wondered for a moment what they would do with his family's diamond or who would want it. What if his own family had also stolen it and changed its name as Jaebeom had said? He never thought about it but maybe his grandfather's grandfather stole it from someone else. He couldn't speak for his ancestors, but he knew his father and he wasn't capable of doing anything like that.

No, that couldn’t be the case. That thing has been in his family for centuries, there are even photos. His family had definitely not stolen their relics.

And even if it originally hadn’t been theirs, it didn’t matter. In a few days that diamond would be someone else's.

  
  


"Welcome! What would you like to order?” The girl at the counter asked with a friendly smile that Youngjae answered immediately, asking about the available Bubble tea flavors. His heart was beating fast in his chest, as if he was nervous and was about to choose something of life and death.

"Uhm... Jaebeom?" Youngjae turned to see the other, who was busy looking at a drink menu on the wall.

As the boy didn't hear him, Youngjae went for him, taking his hand to lead him to the counter as well, "What flavor is your favorite?"

Jaebeom looked at his clasped hands for a second before clearing his throat and looking away, "I like the strawberry one."

"Then I want a strawberry and an original, please."

The girl at the counter smiled saying his order out loud to confirm, "That would be $5.10, please."

Strangely she looked at Jaebeom when saying the price instead of Youngjae and that gave the boy an idea.

"Jaebeomie..." he called out, waving their hands still together, Jaebeom frowned at him without really reacting and Youngjae smirked, pointing at the cashier. "It’s $5.10"

"Then pay?"

"What do you mean pay? You told me you’re buying today, it's my birthday and everything.”

"I didn't say... it’s your birthday?"

The girl opened her mouth, giggling incredulously, "Did you forget your boyfriend's birthday?"

Jaebeom's confusion slipped out of every pore, he turned to see the girl, shaking his head. "I didn’t forget it! I mean, he’s not my..."

Youngjae was going to drown trying to hold back his laughter, he just wanted to know how it felt someone treating him, maybe trying to get parts of a date out and then pretend he had one. But he never thought the cashier would help him so much. Now he could also see a blushing and panicked Jaebeom, he was going to tease him for a long time with this.

Well, for a long time he only meant the week that he’ll be with him.

"You're lucky, birthday boys don't pay," the cashier interrupted him, shaking her head. She still had a half-amused expression on his face and looked at Youngjae, "But you're going to want to get yourself another boyfriend after that."

"I'll think about it," Youngjae smiled and led Jaebeom by the hand to a table somewhat away from the counter, the guy seemed in a trance thinking too much about what was happening around him.

Once seated and away from the employee's ears, Youngjae gave a laugh that he was holding back, Jaebeom looked at him confused, "It’s your birthday?"

"I don’t think so."

"Then why…"

“I got us free drinks. Are you going to complain?”

The realization replaced the confusion on Jaebeom's face, and he finally smiled a little, “You're sly, little prince. Who'd say it."

"I don't want to hear that from a thief."

"Oh, ho ho. You make me a proud boyfriend.”

Youngjae was caught off guard, now it was his turn to blush though he tried to hide it, "You're not my boyfriend."

"Hey, you were the first to say it."

"It was her."

"Whatever, little prince. You're not as a good boy as you seem, I like you better now.”

Youngjae snorted, looking away. He knew Jaebeom was making fun of him, but he had never interacted in person with anyone so… Jaebeom. And he wasn't mentally prepared to take that kind of joke for what it was. Plus, they didn't even know each other, there was no reason to feel weird.

When their drinks were in the table, they had a conversation like normal people - it turned out that he and Jaebeom had many likes in common and were able to talk for hours about the music they liked and about interesting art-movie films, even video games and anime. 

For the first time he felt identified with someone, that there was actually someone like him with the same tastes and hobbies, something like a true friend. It was nice, Youngjae also thought he liked Jaebeom better now.

They also discussed the places Youngjae wanted to go to. Jaebeom suggested the public pool and the amusement park, two options ruled out. Youngjae had a pool at home and was not particularly attracted to roller coasters.

But they added to the karaoke list, a nightclub Jaebeom would help him enter in with a fake ID, a couple of museums Youngjae wanted to visit, a mall, and he almost screams excitedly when Jaebeom told him they could go to an animal shelter.

They planned the entire week and Youngjae was sure he would never have a better time in his life than that.

They went for a walk the rest of the day, went into some stores and as promised, they got ramen at the convenience store and sat down to eat right there. They took the subway and took a bus trip. How could his father deprive him of all this?

The world wasn’t dangerous, it was incredible. There were a lot of things to see but maybe he wouldn't appreciate it that much if he hadn't been locked up all his life.

"Look!" Youngjae suddenly screamed for the millionth time that day, running after something that caught his attention. Jaebeom had run after him all day, he was no longer surprised by any of the things that seemed interesting to him.

When he reached him, Youngjae had a bottle in his hands and was blowing in a small circle, blowing bubbles in the air and then going after it to burst it, laughing every time it exploded.

The boy smiled at him, throwing bubbles at his face. "Having fun?"

"Yeah!" Youngjae exclaimed, blowing more bubbles in his direction again, without erasing the smile from his face. That smile was huge and bright, Jaebeom wondered if it could blind him if he saw too much of it.

Inevitably he smiled at him as well, snatching the bottle of soap from him to throw bubbles at him as well.

"It's getting late, we must go home." He told him when the bubbles were gone, looking at the clock on his phone. "I'll make dinner."

"I want cereal for dinner."

Jaebeom raised an eyebrow, he had just eaten that, but he didn’t ask. Less work for him in the kitchen.

Upon returning home, Youngjae offered to feed the cats, the 5 gathered around him sticking to his legs and he was able to caress everyone, he liked that they didn’t hide from him. He wanted to take a picture of them to send to Kimmy in his check-in message that night, to keep assuring her that he was fine.

His phone wasn’t in his pocket and he looked for it between the couch cushions but it was not there either. He searched in his jacket and in the kitchen, nothing.

"Have you seen my phone?" He asked Jaebeom and he shook his head.

"In the living room?"

"Not there. I'm sure I had it in my jeans but it's gone.”

"You lost it?"

"Well, it's not here." The boy repeated rolling his eyes, it was almost obvious what happened.

Jaebeom pulled out his phone and gave it to him, "Dial your number, maybe it's somewhere around."

Obviously, the cell phone was not there and, without surprise, it was turned off and the calls were no longer entering. Youngjae wasn't too concerned, he didn't have anything important there. The problem was with his nanny.

"What I do now?" He asked Jaebeom, "I have to call her or something."

"Use mine."

"I don't know her number."

Jaebeom looked at him, looking worried at last, "Don't you know someone else's number?"

Youngjae shook his head. He was always there, he didn't need to memorize phone numbers.

"What is going to happen now? They… are they going to look for you if you don't report back?”

"Uhm... maybe?"

Jaebeom huffed wearily, if they called the police they'd be screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm surprised I did this so fast! 
> 
> I'm having fun with this, but don't think there's not be drama sometime on the way lol 
> 
> Read between lines there's clues of what's coming next 🌝🌝
> 
> Thank you for reading guys!! 
> 
> Take care of yourselves!


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